How about a MANGO There is that hard shell thing/pit in the center with the flesh adheared to it...if I wanted to grow one from........seed how or what do I do THANK YOU. YOU may email me as I never know how quickly a response it give in this site..I asked question a while back and it was a month before I saw a response..I had forgot about asking by then. js4jc2day@hotmail.com THANK YOU

Chey, A good way to use ground spices is to make them up with applesauce into ornaments (or just plain small quarter-size discs for your potpouri). I've used ground cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, pumpkin pie mix...any old ground spices needing replacement. You can then add these to your potpourri in muslin sacks with no "leakage" problem. They're easy to make, keep their scent well with no preservative, make good tree decorations or package tie-ons too. I've made pomanders: stuck cloves in oranges and just rolled in cinnamon and they dry well and smell good for a long time. On the other hand, my dried pomegranites (spelling wrong?) really don't have any scent once dried. Haven't really made potpourri myself...I received some as a gift and it has a strong lemony odor...besides fruit rind strips and bits of dried flowers/leaves it has wood shavings/chips which seem to be soaked in lemon extract. I thought if it ever needed renewing, I'd just try adding more lemon extract...smile. Hope someone else can be more helpful. josh Here is a link that might be useful: CINNAMON/APPLESAUCE RECIPE

I use purchased, dried apricots in my Habanero Gold jelly with no adverse effects. I agree with Dave that for many of us the purpose of preserving is to control contents in addition to being able to use summer's bounty all winter. However, there are some things I just won't do. I'm not going to buy apricots, dry them, then rehydrate them for a few jars of jelly. :-) If I had an apricot tree, it would be different! I wouldn't worry about the preservatives unless it is going to be served to someone with sensitivities to them. Deanna

I've never heard of anyone doing this, never seen anyone do this and I've been gardening since I was a wee child in the 1960s. It simply isn't necessary. The flower falls off on its own at the right time, and I suspect the plants do not appreciate human intervention. I don't know if there are any negative side effects from you removing the flowers too soon, but suspect that it might interfere a tiny bit in proper fruit development since the tomato plants function perfectly fine if we just leave them alone. I've never heard of deformed fruit resulting from flowers staying on the plants too long. You get deformed fruit because of certain weather conditions that are occurring when pollination/fertilization of the flowers is occurring. Once the weather straightens out, the deformed fruit will stop. The most common kind of tomato fruit deformity is called catfacing and it generally occurs because the fruit set at colder temperatures than they like. Sometimes, in very warm weather, catfacing can occur due to pollen issues caused by high temperatures at or above 92 degrees occurring while pollination is ocurring, but I rarely see that sort of heat-induced catfacing. I do see the cold weather-induced catfacing on early tomatoes. It also can happen during times of high humidity when the high RH values make the tomato pollen sticky so that it clumps together and does not move around well inside the flower, which is where pollination and fertilization occur. It is what is is, and it stops when the temperatures stabilize. Catfacing is addressed in this factsheet from OSU (though I don't really like that they list is as a noninfectious disease---to me it is more of a physiological issue than a disease). Tomato Fact Sheet From OSU I'd leave the flowers alone and let them fall off the plants on their own simply because what you're doing is not helping the fruit and might be hurting them.